莎士比亞（William Shakespeare, 1564-1616），偉大的英國文學家。在其作品中，Hamlet（ 哈姆雷特）、Othello（奧瑟羅）、King Lear（李爾王）、Macbeth?（麥克白），故事均取自歐洲的歷史傳說。自十九世紀始，它們即被公認為是莎翁的「四大悲劇」
威廉·莎士比亞（William Shakespeare，1564--1616）歐洲文藝復興時期最傑出的戲劇家和詩人。對他的壹切現在還都有許多疑問，在沒有確證之前，我們仍然沿用大家熟知的這個被稱作莎士比亞的人。他讀書時就卓爾不凡，可能當過教師，對詩歌和戲劇都感興趣，在劇院幹過許多行當，大概在1590年固定於倫敦的壹家劇院當演員和寫劇本。莎士比亞早期的創作中已顯示出他人文主義思想，對當時社會的方方面面都有自己深刻的理解。對愛情、對金錢、對人性和對社會的貧富等都有鮮明的描寫。
據說，莎士比亞留下來的劇本有37部，包括歷史劇、悲劇和喜劇，當然不能簡單的這樣劃分。著名的劇本有《亨利四世》、《仲夏夜之夢》、《威尼斯商人》、《羅密歐與朱麗葉》、《哈姆雷特》、《暴風雨》、《李爾王》和《麥克白》等；有大概154首十四行詩。
莎士比亞的成就有目***睹，所獲得的世界性的贊譽不勝枚舉，對世界文學的影響巨大，根據他的作品改編的各種文藝形式有很多很多。莎士比亞於1616年4月23日去世，而他出生在1564年的4月23日；也就在1616年4月23日這壹天，隔海相望的西班牙大作家塞萬提斯也去世了；而遙遠的東方中國在1616年7月29日同樣失去了大戲劇家湯顯祖。
《哈姆雷特》Hamlet 英文簡介
The King of Denmark dies suddenly, and within two months his widow, Gertrude, now Queen of Denmark, marries his brother Claudius. Hamlet, his son, fears that Claudius killed his own brother (Hamlet's father) to become king of Denmark Hamlet's friend Horatio, advises him that his father’s ghost has been seen walking at night. Hamlet then wits with Horatio the next evening to see the late King Hamlet's ghost appear at midnight. The ghost tells Hamlet privately that Claudius had him, by pouring poison in his ear. This enrages Hamlet and he begins to plots of how to revenge his father's death. He begins to act like a madman, prompting King Claudius, his wife Gertrude, and his advisor Polonius to send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet and figure out why he is acting mad. Even Ophelia, whom Hamlet was in love with, gets treated rudely, prompting Polonius to believe Hamlet is madly in love with her, though Gertrude suspects it is because of his father’s death. Polonius, a busy body who jumps to hasty conclusions, allows Laertes to go to France and had orders Ophelia not to associate with Hamlet. Hamlet convinces an acting company to reenact King Hamlet's death before Claudius, disguised as play written by Hamlet, in the hope that Claudius will confess. Though Claudius is enraged, and Hamlet’s mother tries to reason with Hamlet after the play. Polonius insisted on staying behind a curtain while she spoke with him and hears Polonius, and kills him through the curtain, thinking the person is Claudius. Hamlet regrets it when he realizes it was Polonius, and Claudius still banishes him to England, accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are carrying orders that the English execute Hamlet. After Hamlet leaves, Laertes returns from France, enraged over his father’s death, and is horrified to find that Ophelia has reacted to her father's death with utter madness. She eventually falls in a stream while gathering wildflowers and drowns, thus building more resentment in Laertes. Meanwhile, Hamlet finding the orders and switching them to order Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed, returns to Denmark and is met by Horatio. Claudius is now desperate to rid himself of Hamlet, and convinces Laertes to duel Hamlet for revenge over his father. To ensure the kill, the tip of Laertes' sword is poisoned and Claudius also poisons the victory cup in case Hamlet wins. During the fight, the poisoned drink is offered to Hamlet, he declines, and instead his mother, Gertrude, drinks it over the objection of Claudius Laertes, losing to Hamlet, illegally scratches him with the poisoned sword to ensure Hamlet's death and Hamlet (unknowingly), grabs Laertes sword and cuts and poisons him. The queen is dying, and screams that she has been poisoned. Laertes, dying, admits of Claudius' treachery. Even though he is weakening fast, Hamlet fatally stabs Claudius, and Hamlet begins his death speech. Though Horatio wants to commit suicide out of sorrow, Hamlet entreats him to tell the story of King Hamlet's death and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's deaths to so they will be avenged. . Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, arrives from conquest of England, and Hamlet's last dying wish is that Fortinbras become the new King of Denmark.
《麥克白》Macbeth 英文簡介
Macbeth is one of Shakespeares greatest tragedies： a drama of crime and punishment， of temptation， guilt， remorse and retribution. The portrayals of Macbeth himself and his wife are memorably persuasive in the rendition of the psychology of ambition，rationalised treachery and eventual disillusionment. Repeatedly the rich and often sinuously complex verse gives general resonance to the particular situation， so that some of the speechesprovide enduring epitomes of states of being which many of us，intermittently， may experience. Inner division， pangs of conscience， the sense of being ambushed by events， and desperatedefiance： they are there; but so too is a vitality of expression and enactment which offsets the plays sombre atmosphere.
《李爾王》King Lear 簡介
The Wordsworth Classics Shakespeare Series presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeares works.The textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal.
King Lear has been widely acclaimed as Shakespeares most powerful tragedy. Elemental and passionate, it encompasses the horrific and the heart-rending. Love and hate, loyalty and treachery, cruelty and self-sacrifice: all these contend in a tempestuous drama which has become an enduring classic of the worlds literature. In the theatre and on screen King Lear continues to challenge and enthral.
《奧瑟羅》Othello 英文簡介 ?
The Wordsworth Classics' Shakespeare Series,with Henty V and The Merchant of Venice as its inaugural volumes,presents a newly-edited sequence of Willian Shakespeare's works.The textual editing takes account of recet scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal.
Othello has long been recognised as one of the most powerful of Shakespeare's tragedies. This is an intense drama of love. deception, lealousy and destruction.Desdemona's love torOthello the Moor. transcends racial prejudice: but the envious lago conspires to devastate their lives. In its vivid rendering ot racism,sexism, contested identities, and the savagery lurking within civilisation, Othello is arguably the most topical and accessible tragedy from Shakespeare's major phase as a dramatist. Productions on stage and screen regularly renew its power to engross, impress and trouble the imagination.
哈姆雷特中文簡介：也被翻譯成《哈姆萊特》。英文原名為“The Tragedy of Hamlet,Prince of Denmark”（丹麥王子哈姆雷特的悲劇），簡稱Hamlet，又名王子復仇記，威廉·莎士比亞的著名悲劇之壹，是莎士比亞最負盛名的劇本，同《麥克白》、《李爾王》[2]和《奧賽羅》壹起組成莎士比亞“四大悲劇”。在《哈姆雷特》中，復仇的故事中交織著愛恨情愁。同時，哈姆雷特也是該劇主人公丹麥王子的名字。
麥克白中文簡介：也被翻譯成《麥克佩斯》。蘇格蘭國王鄧肯的表弟麥克白將軍，為國王平叛和抵禦入侵立功歸來，路遇三個女巫。女巫對他說了壹些預言和隱語，說他將進爵為王，但他並無子嗣能繼承王位，反而是同僚班柯將軍的後代要做王。麥克白是有野心的英雄，他在夫人的慫恿下謀殺鄧肯，做了國王。為掩人耳目和防止他人奪位，他壹步步害死了鄧肯的侍衛，害死了班柯，害死了貴族麥克德夫的妻子和小孩。恐懼和猜疑使麥克白心裏越來越有鬼，也越來越冷酷。麥克白夫人神經失常而自殺，對他也是壹大刺激。在眾叛親離的情況下，麥克白面對鄧肯之子和他請來的英格蘭援軍的圍攻，落得裊首的下場。
《李爾王》中文簡介：也是威廉·莎士比亞四大悲劇之壹，敘述了年事已高的李爾王意欲把國土分給3個女兒，口蜜腹劍的大女兒高納裏爾和二女兒裏根贏其寵信而瓜分國土，期動蕩不安的英國社會的面貌，也是作者對專制王權的批判和對人性的歌頌。受狡詐冷酷的女兒和陰險殘暴的女婿的虐待，李爾由專橫暴虐、剛愎自用的統治者，壹下子變成了“流浪的叫花子般的國王”，這個過程具體地反映了文藝復興晚期封建階級走向衰亡的歷史。葛羅斯特受到作為冒險家、陰謀家的兒子陷害後所說的“城市裏有暴動，國家發生內亂，宮廷之內潛藏著逆謀；父不父，子不子，綱常倫紀完全破滅”這番話，正點出了封建主義解體、資本主義興起的過渡時期封建倫理道德趨於崩潰，人與人之間赤裸裸的金錢關系替代舊的綱紀倫常的歷史真實。
劇本真實地反映了廣大人民的苦難。李爾王流落荒郊，飽嘗暴風雨襲擊的苦楚，隨著地位的改變，他不由聯想起成千上萬無家可歸的窮人。他激動地說：“衣不蔽體的不幸的人們，無論妳們在什麽地方，都得忍受這樣無情的暴風雨的襲擊，妳們的頭上沒有片瓦遮身，妳們的腹中饑腸雷動，妳們的衣服千瘡百孔，怎麽抵擋得了這樣的氣候呢？”這段話真實地揭示了圈地運動中失地農民流落異鄉、饑寒交迫的慘狀。
劇本還通過李爾王的小女兒考狄利婭等正面形象，宣揚了人和人應該和諧真誠、應該尊重人格、應該平等相待的人文主義思想。但李爾的瘋狂致死、考狄利婭的被害和葛羅斯特的流浪等結局，又為作品抹上了濃重的憂郁色調。
《奧賽羅》中文簡介：《奧賽羅》是以15世紀末葉賽浦路斯島作為舞臺的。奧賽羅是威尼斯公國壹員勇將。他與元老的女兒苔絲狄夢娜相愛。但由於他是黑人，婚事未被允許。兩人只好私下成婚。奧賽羅手下有壹個陰險的旗官伊阿古，壹心想除掉奧賽羅。他先是向元老告密，不料卻促成了兩人的婚事。他又挑撥奧賽羅與苔絲狄夢娜的感情，說另壹名副將凱西奧與苔絲狄夢娜關系不同尋常，並偽造了所謂定情信物等。奧賽羅信以為真，在憤怒中掐死了自己的妻子。當他得知真相後，悔恨之余拔劍自刎，倒在了苔絲狄夢娜身邊。